Sunday after church, on a quiet balmy summer day, dinner is fresh, hot, and ready for immaculate consumption. After clearing the table, the men adjourn to the front porch to talk politics, church, and relax after a long week of satisfying the burdensome requirements of familial responsibilities. After all, what man is there who would not rather be fishing? The women, on the other hand, scurry in the kitchen, do the dishes, clean up, and put things away; while repeating the local gossip about who is seeing who; who should and who should not be marrying who. These images may appear out of Norman Rockwell or Mayberry R.F.D. U.S.A., but they are the images the American country music industry and fans envision of themselves. These perceptions are extremely strong held views of a past that has come to exist more in recollection than reality. The country music industry, with its roots in deep southern religious traditions, is blinded by these and similar views, and unwilling to recognize its true state is far less appealing than the wholesome image it seeks to portend. Country music is a dichotic blend of the past and the present. It seeks to hold to religious traditions while oftentimes staggering in intoxication of those appurtenances contrary to its traditions; the clearest examples of this dichotomy are seen in the lyrics, dress, and dance found in modern country music. To understand the present bifurcation of Country Music, a history of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville is implicit. The Ryman auditorium began its existence as the result of a religious transformation by steamboat captain Thomas Ryman on May 10th, 1885. Ryman, while attending a preaching service held by the late nineteenth-century evangelist Samuel Porter Jones, ... ... middle of paper ... ...ta Lynn - The Pill Lyrics. 01 31, 2001. http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/lynn-loretta/the-pill-22418.html (accessed 05 09, 2012). About.com. About.com Nashville. The New York Times. 01 27, 2009. http://nashville.about.com/od/historyandsites/a/GOOpryhistory.htm (accessed 05 08, 2012). Bjorke, Matt. 10 Controversial CMA Award Moments. 11 07, 2011. http://www.roughstock.com/blog/10-controversial-cma-awards-moments (accessed 05 09, 2012). Foster, Ben. Top Ten Greatest Women of the Nineties, #4 - Shania Twain. 10 27, 2010. http://www.zimbio.com/Robert+Mutt+Lange/articles/T4wGiHg6ZzP/Top+Ten+Greatest+Women+Nineties+4+Shania+Twain (accessed 05 09, 2012). Quan, Denise. Trace Adkins talks puppets, politics and bit parts. 01 25, 2011. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-01-25/entertainment/trace.adkins.soundcheck_1_puppets-trace-adkins-cnn?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ (accessed 05 09, 2012).
Alan Shapiro is a poet whom uses the sorrowful tragedies that occurred in his lifetime and turns them into beautiful poems in which he greatly expresses through his poetry. Most of his poems symbolize either a type of sorrow or tragic death, and the expressions used throughout his poetry make it noticeable that Alan Shapiro endured a life of hardship and tragedy. While Shapiro was growing up he lost his brother and his sister in which the poem “Sleet” by Alan Shapiro beautifully encompasses his feeling of grief and sorrow due to the loss of his siblings.
Being that media is a major factor in this dilemma of old country versus modern country. All former country music artists such as Hank Williams Junior and Senior were not portrayed as “Sexiest Man/Woman Alive” and they were not advertised by overly sexualized l...
For almost 90 years, The Grand Ole Opry has withstood the test of time to become one of the tried and true traditions in country music. From the show's humble beginnings as an obscure radio program, to it's renowned place today as one of the premiere stages for music, The Grand Ole Opry has had an extremely colorful and interesting existence. Over the 88 years that have passed since the show's inception, The Grand Ole Opry has featured many talented performers. Those performers, along with social changes and economics, have all contributed to the growth and success of The Grand Ole Opry.
At the end of the day, racism and prejudice will always exist in some form for whatever reason is most convenient. Additionally, it’s not as if fans of country music are all raging bigots who dream of segregation and a return to slavery-driven southern values. After all, there are plenty of ‘southern pride’ songs that don’t feature race, nativism, and are beloved by most without an ulterior message that is appreciated by Stormfront. After all, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama features anti-segregation lyrics. Charlie Daniels Band wrote and performed The Devil Went Down to Georgia, lyrically referencing the south as far as Georgia by name alone. Yet both of these are hailed as quintessentially southern pride songs, meaning that southern pride isn’t the same as white pride. The reason the comparison matters, then, is because there is a significant overlap between the two. It is certainly possible to enjoy country music without wishing for a return to Aryan values, and the majority of country music doesn’t advocate it. But enough popular songs feature nativism as a theme to the point that it shouldn’t be ignored. There is a tangible connection between Southern Pride and nativism through music, and a definite connection between nativism and the White Pride movement. Music connects people and spreads ideas; culturally relevant music tends to stay around for a lifetime. Music has power, and the power of hate music is not one that should be
Rock n’ roll gave people the voice they did not have in the early years. As the genre of music became more wide spread, people actually began to speak out. Altschuler touches on the exploration of how the rock n' roll culture roughly integrated with replaced and conflicted with preceding cultural values. Many of these values were very touch topics. Besides black civil rights, sexuality were one of the most sensitive t...
Country music, as we know it today, was first called “Hillbilly music”. The name “Country” was not widely used until around the 1950s. The creation of this Hillbilly music, very much like American culture, was influenced from many different cultures and styles of music.
Shmoop Editorial Team. Country Music History Timeline of Important Dates. Shmoop.com [Web site]. Accessed 21 May 2014 at: http://www.shmoop.com/country-music-history/timeline.html
The influences of long ago have come and gone from the radio air waves, but the extreme driving force of the country music industry, WSM Radio and the Grand Ole Opry turned a small town into a big city, nicknamed "Music City". Today, seventy-five plus years later, the Opry still broadcasts to listeners on the same radio station.
South University Online. (2013). POL2076: American Government: Week 4: People and Politics—Interest Groups. Retrieved from http://myeclassonline.com
This year, our Marching Band received the chance to visit to Nashville, Tennessee, where we encountered the different musical culture they developed. Starting the trip, the band attended The Grand Ole Opry, a concert where several talented country musicians performed live in a giant hall. A fascinating experience, we learned about the musician’s lives through their music and what they consider everyday aspects of their lives that people don’t have farther up north. Moreover, one of the band members won the opportunity to participate in a dance-off onstage during one of the breaks, something the entire band celebrated in camaraderie. Next, a holistic museum of country music, “Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum” held all kinds of pieces from
Ryan, John. “The Seventh Stream: The emergency of rock n roll in American popular music,” (Book reviews) Social Forces (1994): March, p. 927. Star, Alexander. “Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music” (book reviews)
George Harvey Strait, is a an American singer, actor, songwriter, and music producer, known as the “King of Country”, of the twentieth century to present. Strait was a vocalist blessed with good looks and a vibrant personality. He is one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. George was a 50s baby. He is also known for his neotraditionalist country style, cowboy look , and being one of the first and main country artists to bring country music back to its roots and away from the pop country era in the 1980s. George Strait has been a country music icon since the 1980s.
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
The 'Standard' of the 11 November 2006 http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar525600>. Wells, Paul F. "Country music." World Book Online Reference Center. 2006.
I was born in the “Music” city, also known as Nashville. Where I actually lived was Fairview, Tennessee. A friendly place, only slightly bigger than the whopping 3,000 that populate the Fort Branch area. Though I didn’t live in Nashville, I would have to travel through the radiant city to get to my dad’s house on the weekends. Now I haven’t ventured too